Related Content

Though they’ll be best remembered for 1985’s nonsensical college-radio hit “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” Camper Van Beethoven was influential in the era’s burgeoning college-rock scene, a smart-alecky antidote to R.E.M., U2, and the Smiths. “All our peers were writing songs that were full of meaning,” singer David Lowery wrote of the band’s signature song on his blog. “It was our way of rebelling.” After a handful of critically acclaimed albums, the band imploded, and Lowery found some commercial success fronting Cracker in the ’90s. Fast-forward 20 years and both bands are active, with CVB busier than ever. Last year’s La Costa Perdida, a concept album about Northern California, will be followed by June’s El Camino Real, focused instead on Southern California. “On La Costa Perdida, the ocean is calm, benevolent and feminine,” Lowery said recently. “On El Camino Real, the sea is filled with darkness, secrets and chemicals.” With Miller and Sasser. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8005, chopsuey.com. 7 p.m. $18 adv./$20 DOS. 21 and over. DAVE LAKE

You’ve got to give it to Seattle quartet San Juan; the band knows how to package its music. With a name derived—it seems—from the nearby island chain and a debut release called Horizons with rippling waters on the cover, you expect mellow island music. That’s pretty much what the band delivers: six luminous songs that rarely outpace a mid-tempo stroll and largely showcase the pleasant harmonizing duet of Kyle R. Andrews and Amie Rippeteau. Like the ripples on the water, though, there is subtle agitation here, from brief, bluesy electric-guitar solos on “Braves” (a song about the baseball team) and “Out There” (which also includes a rare bit of blues shouting from the duo) to the darker Elliott Smith–like instrumentals that open “Six of Us” and closer “Obstacles.” A longer album might feel somewhat adrift—like a Jack Johnson affair—but these six songs serve as a nice introduction, showing a band capable of more, if it is willing to venture into darker waters. With The Bluebird, Smoke Perkins and the Filthy Falcons. Columbia City Theater, 4918 Rainier Ave. S., 722-3009, columbiacitytheater.com. 8 p.m. $8 adv./$10 DOS. MARK BAUMGARTEN

For anyone who grew up in the ’80s, the brooding piano in “Still Knocking at the Door” off Life Among the Savages, the lastest from Jason Quever, aka Papercuts, will instantly recall Tears for Fears’ iconic solo in “Head Over Heels.” Intentional or not, these things happen; just ask Louis C.K. about the jokes Dane Cook stole from him: “They just snuck in there.” But Quever, like Brian Wilson on morphine, can count his imitators too. Locals Tomtem, which opens tonight, recorded its latest, The Farewell Party—forthcoming this August on Versicolor—with the songwriter. Yet both groups have a slightly different edge: Tomtem leans more upbeat, a la Sufjan Stevens, while Papercuts is more mopey, like Midlake, Bill Callahan, or Cass McCombs. Baroque pop, they call it (and we all know who invented that genre). With EDJ of the Fruitbats. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave N.W., 789-3599. 8 p.m. $12. GE